To Please God

Wayne Matthews

August 31, 2019

Welcome, everybody, to this seventh day Sabbath.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at how we can please God. The reality is we are either pleasing God or pleasing self. So there is no grey area. There is nothing in between.

In a lot of issues in the world people say, “Oh, this is a grey area.” Well, this one, this topic, pleasing God, there’s actually no grey area. It’s either we are pleasing God or we’re pleasing self. There is no in between.

To please God is a personal choice that we all have to make once we are called. Those in the world cannot please God. Now, we’re going to look at that in a little bit, in a moment, where there’s distinctions about things, about pleasing God. Like, people may say, “Well, these people please God because they’re Sabbath keepers.” Well, that’s not true in the sense of pleasing God on a spiritual level because the reality is there is a difference between pleasing God in the sense of physical, because physically a person can’t please God. That’s what scripture says. They can obey the Sabbath in the sense of keep a Sabbath. They can tithe. Well, does that please God? Well, not according to scripture. But it is a level of physical obedience, and therefore, there’s a law that’s connected to that physical obedience. There’s a blessing.

Just like Israel. If you look at Israel they were blessed for physical obedience, but they could never keep the spirit of the law. Well, pleasing God is actually connected to the spirit of the law and we’ll look at that. There is proof in the Bible that says we, being called, have the ability to please God or not. The world doesn’t have that ability.

The title of this sermon is To Please God.

If you’d like to turn to Romans 8:7, which you all would know. Romans 8:7—Because the carnal or the natural or selfish mind, what we’re born with, what we have before we’re called and receive God’s holy spirit, this mind we have is enmity, it’s hostile against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So by nature we resist God. So unless a person is called and has received God’s holy spirit they are actually resisting God.

Now, that applies to the scattered Church. The scattered Church cannot please God. Even though they tithe, they do a lot of things; it’s all on a physical level. But they don’t have the real ability, the spiritual ability to please God.

Verse 8—So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Well, let’s just take the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation keep (some of them, not all of them), some of them keep a seventh day Sabbath. Do they please God? So, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” It’s impossible. So there’s a physical component of obedience that has a blessing connected to it, blessings and cursings. But there’s a spiritual component to this, which we have the ability to please God.

So the Church that’s scattered, they physically keep a seventh day Sabbath, majority. They tithe. They give offerings. They go to the Feast. Does that please God? They don’t have the capacity on a spiritual level. It’s impossible. It says, “Those who are in the flesh,” using the natural mind without God’s holy spirit, “cannot please God.” They don’t please God, yet most people would think, “Oh, they’re Sabbath keepers. They’re pleasing God.” According to scripture, on a spiritual level they can’t because they don’t have the gift of God’s holy spirit.

So it’s only somebody with God’s holy spirit active in their mind that can please God. So we have the capacity. We have the ability. They don’t. Therefore, you would never judge or condemn them because they don’t have the capacity to please God. We do.

Those that are not called by God cannot obey Him. Pretty straight forward. Even though they might physically keep things it doesn’t please God on a spiritual level. Why? Because God’s looking at the spirit of a matter, the heart, the intent and once we’re given God’s holy spirit God examines our heart, our mind, our intent to see whether we’re keeping the law in the spirit, which means we’re thinking about it. As I’ve covered before, someone can tithe and break the law because the spirit of the law. A person can tithe and break the law. You think, well, how is that possible? Well, it’s about your intent. Because a person can tithe, first tithe, for a wrong motive. The motive is, well, we want to be well thought of; we want to stay connected to the Church. But they’re not doing it for the right reason – the motive, the spirit of the matter.

So when we look at the law, when Christ explained the law about adultery – because it’s in the mind, it’s about the way we think – so someone may never commit the physical act of adultery but be breaking that law. People would say, “What do you mean? That’s not possible.” Yes, it is, because it’s in the thinking. It’s the spirit of it. It’s the motive and intent, what a person really is thinking. That’s what God is looking at, our motive and intent behind this. So we have this capacity to please God, nobody else does. Only those in the Body of Christ that have God’s holy spirit.

Verse 9—But you are not in the flesh. Well, this is really saying, “You are not controlled by selfishness,” because now you have the power from God, God’s holy spirit, to now not be controlled that way. We’ve got a choice to make. So we’re not in the flesh but in the spirit, because now we examine the spirit of a matter, why do we do what we do. That’s what we should be examining in our life; why do we do what we do? Why do we do it that way? Why do we act that way? Why do we keep 2nd tithe? Just because God says to keep it, well, a person can keep 2nd tithe to attend a Feast, but deep down they begrudgingly do it. “I have to do it.” “I have to do it.” Well, God’s looking at that and saying, well, that’s not the motive behind why.

We keep 2nd tithe for a reason. It’s a spiritual reason because we want to go to a Feast for fellowship and to hear what God has got for us. That’s why. So our motive of why we’re putting it aside is completely different than just putting 10% aside and saying, “Oh, I’ve got to do it.” “I’ve ‘got’ to do it.” The motive us just totally wrong.

Well, this is the same thing here. Scripture’s clearly saying that we cannot please God unless we have God’s holy spirit.

So we keep things in the spirit if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit from God, God’s holy spirit, he is not His. So if we don’t have God’s holy spirit, if we’re not using God’s holy spirit, which means examining ourselves on a regular basis of why we do what we do, well, we’re not connected. So if we don’t have God’s holy spirit we could be still Sabbath keepers, we could still keep 1st tithe, 2nd tithe, we could still go to the Feast and not be God’s, not be pleasing God. There’ll be physical blessings connected to it which are automatic, things of the law which physical Israel did, but they didn’t please God. They couldn’t. They didn’t have God’s holy spirit.

So it’s an incredible responsibility that we have, really, when you look at it. We have the power to please God, the Creator of the universe. It’s an incredible responsibility that we have.

So the key point is we must have God’s holy spirit which enables us to please God. We must have God’s holy spirit. Once we are called our desire must be to please God. So that’s why we do things, because we want to please God. We rejoice in it. That’s our motive and intent. That’s why we are in the Body, is to actually please God. There’s a lot of scriptures we, God willing, will get to; we’ll look at different people and what they’ve done about pleasing God.

Now, you might say, well, how do we please God? Is it just obedience? Well, the key to it all is to believe God we must believe what He tells us and then choose to obey. So the key to this is we must believe what God tells us, which is connected to faith. Then, with that, we’re saying because we believe what God says we then obey. So we’re here today because of the Sabbath, because we believe God that this was created for us as a day of rest. We believe that, and therefore, we have chosen to obey. That’s why we’re here.

So we today here, if we’ve got the right attitude, we believe God about the Sabbath, we’re here, we’re actually pleasing God today, which is an incredible thing. We’re actually pleasing God today if we’re here with the right attitude, the right spirit behind why we’re doing it.

2 Timothy 2:1—You, this is Paul writing to Timothy, who was an elder, therefore, my son, be strong... Well, how are we strong? Well, we’re strong if we believe God and obey Him because God makes us strong. It’s not that we’re strong physically. This is a spiritual matter. We can be strong because God’s holy spirit in us will make us strong, because we believe what God says and now we’re going to obey what God has said.

...in grace (in favor) that is in Christ Joshua. The things that you have heard from me (Paul) among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Now, a lot of people can look at that physically. The natural inclination we look at that physically and say, yep, here is Timothy, he’s gone out and he’s now going to say, he’s going to commit certain things of what he’s being taught by Christ, he’s going to give it over to them and they’re just going to teach it.

Well, there’s a lot more to it because we have to be careful we’re not hypocrites in the sense of a person that’s given the authority from God to teach is not a hypocrite by their actions, because it’s one thing to tell people. And you’ve seen this in lots of religions of the world, where people will get up there and they’ll run around and they’ll say certain things. Then it comes out in the news they’re off, you know, with prostitution and stealing and all sorts of things that they’re doing. They’re hypocrites because this is about teaching by word and example.

To be an example to others is much better than even the words because anybody can get the Bible and read out passages of the Bible. The world does it. All the religions of the world, the false religions of the world do it. They just read it, but don’t live it. Whereas we’re getting to the point of faith where we believe God and obey Him, well, we’re demonstrating faith, we believe God. So to teach others by example is probably stronger than even just words. They’re two connected, because words are required. That’s how people are brought to the truth; it’s through words and then they can look at the example that is being set.

Verse 3—You (Timothy), therefore, must endure (undergo) hardship as a good soldier of Joshua the Christ. Now, what does that means to be a “good soldier?” Well, a good soldier, if you look at it, they obey the command. You know, when you look at it it’s pretty straight forward. You’re a good soldier, you’ve got to battle. So if you’re told to go out and go to war, you go to war—that’s what you do—and you battle.

Well, for us it’s spiritual battle. We’re told to battle spiritually in the mind, that when that thought enters we’re to deal with it. Now, I reflect back on the majority... not the majority of my life, but most of my life, fortunately being in the Church longer now that I have been in the world, if you understand what I mean from the time of a calling. But a lot of that time in the Church was not really in the Church because I didn’t have God’s spirit. But you realize the battle. Yes, thoughts enter your head. Well, when God is not involved and you don’t have God’s holy spirit the thought enters the head, but you do little about it. You do very little about it, you just live life. There will be certain principles of that you may even have been brought up with that you now follow, but it’s not obedience to God, in the sense you don’t have God’s holy spirit, because you don’t really manage it.

So you can have a thought about somebody and you let it run because there’s a pleasure in sin. Temporary pleasure of sin. There’s a pleasure in pulling someone down in your head, “Yeah, they’re just idiots and yeah, they do that,” and you love it. You enjoy it and you’re justified at the end of it and you walk off and that’s all you think about it. The next time you see them you just think evil of them.

Well, that’s not what we’re called to. Now we have the power, because of God’s holy spirit, to now deal with it. The thought enters the head, “Yeah, they’re just idiots,” and you go, “Hang on a minute! I’ve got to stop here. I’ve got to deal with this thought. No, they’re not called. They don’t know any better.” You know, you can deal with it and work with it. Well, that’s our calling. That’s the warfare that Timothy is being encouraged by Paul, “You’re entering into a warfare,” and you’re only a good soldier if you’re doing it. Other than that it’s just habit.

The Jews can do it and the Church that’s scattered can do it just by habit. I did it for ten years or so. Did it by habit. Kept every Sabbath. Didn’t have God’s spirit. Did it. Tithed faithfully 10 years. Didn’t have God’s spirit. Did it all. Went to the Feast. Never missed one. Never missed a holy day. Fasted on the Day of Atonement. Didn’t have God’s spirit. And yet all that time I never pleased God once. Isn’t that incredible? Because we have the power to please God because it’s about the motive. Without God’s holy spirit the natural carnal mind will fall into habit, into a routine.

It’s great that now for me personally that I had that ability to admit it. Because I can only admit it because I’ve been awakened, and God’s spirit, I can see now. I can see clearly. Wayne you were an idiot for ten years just doing what you thought was right and to please others, but it wasn’t pleasing God. It was just habit. I just did it. It wasn’t questionable. I already knew that’s what God said so I did it. But I didn’t please God in that time, since the Apostasy; I just didn’t until I was awakened.

Verse 4—No one engaged in warfare (against themselves) entangles himself with the affairs of this life. So we don’t go back. So if you had a soldier and he’s getting embroiled with all the other things and the commander says, “Move forward and fight the battle,” and he’s got all these other problems, he’s not concentrating, and he thinks, “Now, look, I just can’t go and fight it. I’ve got to go back, you know, get involved back with all these other things that are going on in my life. But I can’t... Sorry, commander, I can’t do this.” Well, no, he wouldn’t last long. He’d be taken out of the army, got rid of because he’s not going to be a loyal soldier.

So you don’t get involved in the affairs of this life, which is you don’t go back to our selfishness. Because the affairs of this world is selfishness. We don’t get involved in our selfishness. No, we’re good soldiers. We don’t get involved.

...that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. So once called we’ve been enlisted to be a good soldier, to fight the fight. That fight is about pleasing God, recognizing sin that dwells within us and we’re going to fight against it.

Verse 5—And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Now, that’s physical. Look at it spiritually. We’re athletics, in the sense we’re in a competition. It’s like a running race. “We’re not crowned,” we’re not given the gift of eternal life in Elohim, or life everlasting in Elohim “unless he competes,” he or she competes “according to the rules.”

So what are the rules that we are competing against? Well, there are. There is obedience. First thing is the Sabbath. That’s a rule. With God’s holy spirit we can actually keep the Sabbath. It’s not just a physical rest, we can actually keep it. The rule is we would give tithes and offerings. They’re the rules of what we’re in, this warfare that we’re in, this race that we’re in. The rules are the holy days, loving one another, sacrificing. They’re all the rules. So we’re not willing to follow the rules that have been outlined by Christ and God through the power of His holy spirit, if we’re not willing to do that, if we don’t choose to do that and follow those rules we will not be crowned. Pretty simple, really, isn’t it?

If you look from physical to spiritual, we can’t be. If we’re going to be disobedient in 1st and 2nd tithe, and we might do it physically, but don’t do it in the spirit of the law, we won’t be crowned. Can’t be. We’re not competing according to the rules.

Now, we’ve been given the rules and we can understand the rules because of the gift of God’s holy spirit we can see the rules.

I was talking to someone, I can’t remember exactly when it was, these things come up, and someone once asked me the question, and I can’t even remember what it was about. My answer was, “Well, I just know.” The person at that point didn’t understand what I meant. “But I just know. I can’t explain it to you. I just know. You know, you want rules and all... and you’re going to want it all… I’m sorry, I just know. So I know this is God’s true Church.” “And how do you prove that?” “I just know!” From personal experience, what happened to me and my awakening, I just know. What can you say? Because it’s God; God gives it. You just know this is it. So that’s competing to the rules. There is no proof in a lot of things, it’s just we know. This is God’s Church and we’ll continue on and we’ll continue running until it’s time to stop running. So we just know that. People would say you’re nuts, but that’s fine. That’s the way it is.

So what are the rules? Well, the rules are, firstly, believe God and live the truth. So the first, and the most important thing, is we’ve got to believe God and if we believe it then there is this choice that comes in. Because God gives us the strength to believe; it’s God’s holy spirit that gives you the knowing, the belief. Then the personal side of it is we have to make a choice. We know right and wrong because God’s given it to us, about the spirit of it. So we know it, now the choice is ours. What are we going to do with this knowledge, this belief that we have.

So what’s required of us is, firstly, to believe, and then obedience. We’re to be faithful to God and simply believe God. We are to be in this competition, you know, this athletic competition. We’re to deny our selfishness. So when that thinking comes in we’re to deny it, we’re to do something about it. They’re the rules.

Now, if we’re not willing to fight against it we’re not following the rules, and therefore, we can’t be crowned. Not possible. We have to learn to yield to God. That’s pretty straight forward. We just got to yield to God in everything.

Verse 6—The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. To believe God comes from God, but there’s another part here about obedience. So we now believe God, now we’ve got to make a choice. Will we keep the Sabbath? Will we tithe? Why and how will you do it? Will we do it faithfully? Will we do it for the right motive? Comes back to a choice, and God’s looking at the heart, which is the spirit of the matter.

We cannot please God if we do not believe His word. It’s pretty straight forward, really. If we don’t believe God, well, it’s impossible to please Him. It’s just not going to be possible because you don’t believe what God says so you can’t please Him.

The warfare must be that we fight against ourselves. We must be obedient to the rules. We must follow the rules that are outlined by God in the Church. We must work hard on ourselves so that we receive the crown. So, really, it’s very straight forward when you take something physical to take it to spiritual.

If we believe God, He accounts it to us as righteousness. It’s a wonderful concept, you know, that God has. “Concept” may not be the right word. But to have that understanding that once we believe God, God says, “Well, you’ve now made a choice to believe Me,” cause it’s a choice to believe. You don’t have to believe. It’s a choice to believe. God gives it to us. Well, God then accounts that to us as righteousness which means we can be crowned.

Hebrews 11:4. So in all of this, to please God really is a personal choice. It takes effort. Something has got to be put into it. It’s not just a robotic thing like the Jewish or the Church that’s scattered. It just can’t be robotic. What I’ve done for a long period of time when I wasn’t awakened, it was robotic and you just did it. But God didn’t look down and say, “Ah, Wayne’s righteous.” No, I couldn’t, because I didn’t have God’s holy spirit. Because I was just doing things from the point of view from my own thinking, what I thought was right and wrong. I won’t go into all the other things that I thought that were wrong. They’re just the basics of God’s law, let alone explain all the thought processes.

Hebrews 11:4—By faith... Now, faith is when we believe God and live that belief. So we believe God and we live it accordingly. That’s where we are and that’s the Church. That’s been the Church since 31 A.D. They believe God and you live a different way. We live differently than others. We do different things than others and we rejoice in that.

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he (Abel) obtained witness, or evidence, which is the same thing; it’s just “give witness to” that he was righteous. Because he believed God and did something by his actions. So he believed God and because he believed God he did something. Well, God says he acted in faith. Which is why we’re here. We’re acting in faith. We believe God. God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. So we know that Cain killed Abel and Abel was dead and he’s been dead a long time, almost... not up 6,000 years, but prior to that, we don’t know exactly what age he was when he died. But, still today here we’re talking about it. This is the evidence. This is the witness from what Abel did because of faith.

If you’d like to hold your place in Hebrews 11 we’re going to go backwards and forwards here and turn to Genesis 4:1-10. We’re going to go through this account because this is the first murder that took place. And really, often people read the story of Cain and Abel and look at it physically rather than looking at it on a spiritual component. What was the real issue here? What was the real issue behind what was happening?

Genesis 4:1—Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. Now, the word “Cain” can be many interpretations, but often this is “to get from God, acquire, or obtain, obtain something.” So Eve saw it as a gift from God. She got something from God. ...and said, I have acquired a man from the Eternal. So she knew clearly, natural mind that she’s got, she knew clearly where this came from. This was from God. Remembering they’d been cast out of the Garden of Eden and now they’re in the world environment and they’re left to themselves. She’s now had a son.

Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. “Abel” means “breath.” Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now, there’s nothing wrong between the two, one being a shepherd and one being into agriculture. There’s no better than or anything. It’s just simply that’s what this person did and this is what this person chose to do. But there is a clear difference here; one was looking after sheep and one is plowing the ground and planting vegetables and crops and things like that.

In the process of time, we do not know how long that was, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Eternal. Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected, which is received Abel and his offering, because this is not about what was given. This is about the attitude behind it. This is about the spirit behind it. Cain is giving something begrudgingly. The scripture talks clearly about, you know, when you give offerings you want to be careful that you don’t do it, give for the wrong reason, you know, “Oh, I’ve got to give an offering otherwise I’m going to be put out of the Church!” Or, “I’ve got to do it because I want to appear to God’s apostle that I’m doing the right thing.” Still sin involved, and in the process of time it’ll be revealed, just like everything. So here it’s about attitude. It’s got little to do with the offering itself; it’s about the attitude behind why someone is doing something, the spirit of the matter.

Verse 5—but He(God) did not respect, or which means, looked away from Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. Now, we know what countenance falling is, isn’t it? We call it “chuckin’ a moody.” You’re in a bad mood, you’re chuckin’ a moody. Not happy. I remember (I think I’ve covered this before), I remember one time when I chucked a moody, got in a bad attitude, and I was only young. I think I was probably 8 or 9 and my mother said, “Have an ice cream, Wayne.” There was no way I was having that ice cream. I was chuckin’ a moody, you know, “No!” Because I felt like I was going to punish her. I knew my mother wanted me to have that ice cream. There is no way I’m going to have that ice cream. It’s throwing a moody; you’re in a bad mood.

Well, here it’s the same thing. What we see is Cain is now getting in a bad mood. He’s not happy with what’s going on. He’s in a mood about it, his countenance has fallen. Those of us that have had children know exactly when someone is in a mood. You can see it on their face! They don’t have to say one single thing, you just look at them and you know something is wrong, something hasn’t gone their way because the mood is selfishness, the expression of selfishness. So here we see now that Cain has an attitude that you could see on his face and he wasn’t happy.

This event is about faith and attitude. There’s a matter of faith being lived, but the motive behind it, the intent behind it was different. Cain gave an offering, but he really didn’t want to. He had a bad mood about it, like he just really didn’t want to do it. Whereas Abel gave an offering (he is considered righteous because he believed God), and he wanted to give the best, the firstborn, and that’s what he did. Therefore, God has made a distinction.

So these events really are for us. It’s not about Cain and Abel; really, it’s about us because we can learn from this. As it says in scripture Abel still cries out. What’s it all about? It’s about an attitude. It’s about the spirit behind why something is done, which is the event of Cain and Abel.

And yet the world will read this event and they won’t see the intent. The intent is wrong. They don’t see that part of it. We can.

Verse 6—So the Eternal said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “What has made you angry?” is another way of saying it. “Why are you in such a mood about this?” Because it didn’t go his way. He’s doing it for the wrong reason and things are not going his way. Why? Because he wanted a blessing. God is now challenging him because of his mood or why he’s doing it. So the motive behind why he gave an offering was not right before God.

God says to him, If you do well... If you please God and obey and have the right attitude in doing it, will you not be accepted? If you do it for the right reason won’t you be accepted? But if you’re doing it for the wrong reason you can’t be accepted because your spirit is wrong. And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. Because what’s a mood, really? What’s a bad attitude? Really, it’s sin. And what’s that? Selfishness. An outward demonstration of selfishness is a mood.

Sin is at the door. And its, which is sin, desire is for you, because that’s our natural mind, but you should rule over it. You should do something about it. You should deal with it in your mind. But, of course, the natural mind will justify and whatnot. But we have the ability to rule over it. So when we feel we’re in disagreement with someone or something is wrong, we think something is wrong in a relationship, God says we’re to deal with it, rule over it. We’re to deal with it. We know there’s been sermons about how we are to deal with it.

So this requires a choice. We have to make a choice and we’ve got to have effort involved. We must rule self, fight against our desires of selfishness.

Verse 8—Now, Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass... So we don’t know how long this is. It wasn’t just a one day thing. How long did this go on for? We don’t know. What age were they when this took place? We don’t know. There’s a lot here. It’s just an event that took place that’s in abbreviation for us so that we can learn from it. This is really all about attitude. This is what it’s really about. It’s about attitude. It’s not about offerings; this is really about attitudes – one that’s got a good attitude towards God, the other one is totally inward and selfish and is doing things for the wrong reason.

Now, Cain talked with his brother Abel; and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. So that’s the first human to be killed. Now, often when you think of these things, by nature we just think of Cain and Abel. But what about Adam and Eve? Here is your eldest son, whom you loved dearly – firstborn, gift from God. “I got something from God” – Eve. And Cain. They would have been so, I’ll use the word proud, probably, right? Proud (human thing), of their eldest son. Now he’s gone and killed his brother. Can you imagine the impact in that family, what it did to that family? Because there were others, as you know, that are born later on, and sons and daughters are born.

But can you imagine the impact on Adam’s mind, and Eve? What do you reckon they did? “If you hadn’t of done those...” “The reason he killed him is because you...” Naturally we justify self. “If you’d done better parenting skills, wife...” “Husband, if you... You let him get away with things. I told you you should have hit him.”

Can you imagine the fights that took place and the distress on Adam and Eve? It would have been horrendous because they’ve only got the natural carnal mind and what does the natural carnal mind do? Justify because self is right. “Our eldest son has killed his brother.” There would have been tragedy. That would have gone through all the years of Adam’s life. He would remember this day, this day that he found out. He would remember it. He lived, I think, to 930 years of age. Can you imagine that? Living with that, that your firstborn son killed his brother. Incredible.

Verse 9—Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? God knowing where he was, of course. He (Cain) said, I don’t know. Well, that’s a human nature thing, isn’t it? Justification. You’re justified. He knew very well where he was. Then he justified it even more and turned around, Am I my brother’s keeper? “Should I be looking after him?” And the answer is yes, you should have been looking out for his welfare. No ill will; that’s what you should have done. But he had a wrong attitude about a lot of things and this one event of having a bad attitude in his mind of giving something that God wasn’t pleased with, because of his attitude, led to this, led to killing his brother.

And He said, What have you done? Which is God said, What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth. Because God knows everything. God knows everything. God sees everything so there is no use trying to hide. But he really is doing something that Adam and Eve, that his parents did, justified and hid, tried to cover it up. It’s exactly the same. Runs in the family.

Guess what?

It’s interesting because of genealogy that if you trace genealogy, which is only accurate to a degree because they don’t recognize the twelve tribes of Israel, so your genealogy really can only be traced back to Noah. We all come from Noah, because everyone else died other than him and Noah’s children. We come from Noah, got a connection to Noah. Or we came from Adam and Eve. That’s where we were. Cain is a brother and Abel is a brother, when you look at your genealogy. Because you can look at all these physical things and they’ll say, “Oh, you come from central Europe.” But they never recognize there was twelve tribes of Israel – not twelve in total, but most of the tribes of Israel ended up in Europe, in captivity.

So what is your genealogy? It could be any one of those. Could be Dan, because everybody went into that area and through that German area and they were put in different locations and they’ll just say, “Oh, you’ve got a connection to this,” and then they’ve got a big map and they show you the big map of where it is. But hey, they used to bring in all types of people into those areas. When they conquered them they brought them in, so it could be anything. So the genealogy tests only is good for certain personal information, possibly.

Right; we’ll go back to Hebrews 11:5. So that event, really, about Cain and Abel is all about the spirit of a matter. Why did Cain do what he did? That’s what it goes back to. Why did he do what he did? Why did he do it? He did it for the wrong reason. He killed his brother. And you think, why do that? Well, it was all about self. It was all about self and what he thought was right and wrong.

Hebrews 11:5—By faith Enoch was taken away, which is transported or transferred. Now, we know from Hebrews 11:13 it says, “All died in the faith not having received the promise.” So the world will think that Enoch was transported to heaven. Basically, that’s what they believe. But scripture makes it very clear because verse 13 says they all died, so Enoch actually died somewhere. It just means that he was moved by God to another location.

So if we just stop and think about that, Enoch, who had children and had family, was moved by God to another location. Now, what do you reckon the ramifications of somebody being moved by God? Did they believe that he was moved by God or did they just think he disappeared? What did they think? They had a natural carnal mind so what did all the children think? It’s interesting, isn’t it? You realize the ramifications that were going on about people thinking, “Well, what happened?” Because they don’t know because God simply protected Enoch by moving Enoch.

He moved into another location, so that he did not see death, at that point in time. He moved him and then he died later on. ...and was not found... They looked for him, obviously, and he wasn’t found there because God had moved him to another location. ...because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, he had this witness. How was Enoch known by God? ...that he pleased God. Isn’t that an incredible thing? It’s absolutely beautiful. I get goose bumps when I read that.

“Enoch had the testimony before God that he pleased God.” How did he do that? Now, we know from Romans 8 there is only one way to please God. A person must have God’s holy spirit to be able to please God. Enoch had God’s holy spirit. He believed God. He became a man of faith because he believed God and he obeyed God. He followed what God said, just like we have that capacity. So Enoch pleased God. This witness or evidence is in his life because it was the way he lived, it was the way he spoke, it was the things that he did. That was the witness, because of his obedience to God.

Enoch believed God and then set out to live what God had said. Enoch strived to be obedient to God’s word. Now, I put that in because we can only strive to be obedient to God’s word, because we’re not always obedient. We have our natural carnal mind, and therefore, we have selfishness, and therefore, we don’t always please God. But we do have the capacity, because once we repent and the flow of God’s holy spirit comes back we now have the power to please God.

Hold your place in Hebrews 11 again and turn to Genesis 5:18. Now, this is covering a time period when God allowed mankind to live a long physical life. We were talking before services about how tragic this would be. So Adam lived 930 years, and in the back of his thinking he always had that Cain, his firstborn, killed his brother. What a tragedy. Imagine having that on your mind.

Now, we understand that Adam and Eve had Seth and Seth was virtually replacing Abel in some ways. It was another son. Well Seth lived 912 years. Enosh, is his name, lived 905 years, Cainan lived 910 years, and Mahalalel lived 895. Now that’s, from a mental capacity, is hard to imagine, that you live for 900 years in this body. It’s a long time. Imagine the things you would see, all the things that you see. It would just be terrible.

We’ll go to verse 18. Genesis 5:18—Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. Now, Enoch means “dedicated,” whom we understand God used and moved to another location. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So they’re having a lot of children. When you’re thinking about you’re living 800 years, how many children and what capacity that there is to have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren. It’d be an incredible thing, how many generations you would see and the agony connected to that. If you had God’s spirit it would be agony to watch it. But if you didn’t have God’s holy spirit you’d just go, “Oh, no, what are they doing now?” It’d be such a frustration.  Well, with God’s spirit we know there is an end to all of this.

Verse 20—So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. So that’s a long life. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. So at the age of 65, when in today’s society it’s finished. When you’re 65 you think it’s all over—personal experience, it’s like it’s all finished – and by strength three score and ten. We have people today in the audience that travelled overseas, three of them.

After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God. So Enoch, now, is walking with God. How did he do that? Well, he believed God, he demonstrated faith, he pleased God. Just like we have that same capacity Enoch had God’s holy spirit. So he had the capacity to please God. He lived three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five.

Now, that’s quite young when you look at the others living 900, but the life span’s being shortened slowly but surely. God is working out that there is a lifespan here; there is no need as we advance to live long life to learn lessons. How blessed are we that God has turned around and said that three score and ten, and then by strength, whatever is there. What a blessing that we have that we don’t have to see all of this being 900 years old. We have God’s holy spirit, but here we have somebody that had God’s holy spirit walk with God for 300 years. Isn’t that incredible, that he pleased God and walked with God 300 years?

So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him, which we understand He simply moved him.

Jude 1:14. Now, in all of this we understand Enoch is seeing his children grow up and have children and their children grow up and have children. So there’s a big family involvement here.

Jude 1:14—Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Eternal, the Master, the Lord, it’s actually the word “Master,” comes with ten thousands of His saints, referring to the 144,000. So Enoch was only given a little bit. But he believed God. He believed that there was going to be a Messiah that would come with ten thousands of his saints. We know it’s 144,000 that have been sealed over a 6,000 year period. We understand it. We know it. So he only knew certain things but whatever God gave to him to believe he believed it, and then he pleased God because he walked in the truth.

Verse 15. So why does God come through Christ? Which is to execute judgment. Because there’s a judgment that’s coming, that’s been done and there’s a judgment here on all... on all to convict... Now, that word is “to punish or convince,” to convince others. So we’re entering that time very shortly, which is to convict, which is to punish or convince all who are ungodly among them for all their ungodly deeds. So there’s a time of judgment, which has taken place, but now there’s an outcome; execution of judgment’s going to take place.

...which has been committed in their ungodly way... Now, that word “ungodly” is “wicked.” It can be interpreted as “wicked,” or “irreverent,” not showing reverence to God. Doesn’t show the fear of God because people are going to be brought into the fear of God. They’re going to be given that opportunity to fear God. ...and all the harsh things which the ungodly sinners have spoken against Him, talking about God.

Enoch was called by God at the age of 65 and he believed God. So it doesn’t matter what age we are called, what age we are when we’re called, the outcome is once we’re called we are to believe God and then make the choice to obey. God established him in the present truth of that time and Enoch pleased God by believing him and choosing to obey. Just like we can.

Back to Hebrews 11:6, which is really written for us today. Now, without faith it is impossible to please Him. So it’s impossible to please God unless we have faith. What is faith? Faith is simply believing God and implementing the obedience, the choice to obey. So we have to believe God. So it’s impossible to please God unless we have faith.

Now, that’s why at the beginning of the sermon I was talking about the Jewish nation. They don’t have faith, because faith comes from God, it’s a gift from God. The Church that’s scattered, they don’t have faith. They’re relying on their capacity of knowledge that they have at that point in time, that they were given, and then God spewed them out of His mouth, they’re out of the Church, and they were never given the opportunity of an awakening at this point in time that we’re talking today.

So it’s impossible for them to please God. Now, they would, and if they hear this at some point, they’d be up in arms. “We please God. We keep the Sabbath. We go to the holy days. We tithe. We do all these things,” but God says it’s impossible to believe Him without God’s holy spirit and they do not have God’s holy spirit, which they would refute as well.

...for he who comes to God must believe that He is. First, we must believe that God exists, that He is the Eternal, the one Self-Existing God where life dwells. We have to believe that first. So when we go to Him in prayer we believe that He exists, we believe His plan, what He has. I won’t get into this, but there is another sermon in relation to if you look at both ways down a length of rope—I won’t go into it—but it’s basically if you go down “that way” to the left to say that we get to God may be not right, but there’s a point where God has existed forever, so you never get to God, if you know what I mean. But somewhere along the line, when you’re called, you do get to a point where you’ve come to know the One True God, the Eternal, the Creator of all things and the beauty that He has created.

The beauty of the body alone. Man, all this time and all the wonderful things that they have, that God has allowed them to have, they still don’t understand the mind. They put all these things on you and they can’t work it out, why you dream and all these things. They still don’t know. They still don’t know how the physical body really works. They’ve got a rough idea.

How incredible is the creation? All the different plants and different animals. Why does this do that? It’s incredible. It all came from one mind, God’s mind. How many trillions of years was that in planning? We’ve got no idea. But for us, we get to this point right here, and it’s called three score and ten, basically. It’s just this little weenie speck. We’re here. There’s no beginning there [to the right] on this rope, just forever, and it goes that way [to the left] from this point forever. Never stops. And here we are right here today, this little weenie pinprick. It’s incredible, isn’t it? We believe that’s what God has promised, that He created all this for us for one purpose. Everything’s been created for one purpose, which is the purpose of having a family. And here we are today with that blessing out of the 6, 7 billion people that know nothing about God, nothing at all, not one single thing. They might think that they do, but they don’t. Nothing compared to what we know and the truth we know.

So we have the capacity to please the creator of the universe. Nobody else does, but we have. If we do not believe God, believe the truth that He’s placed in the Church we cannot please God. Not possible.

Hebrews 11:7. We’re just going through some of the men of faith because it’s about pleasing God. All of these men were given the capacity to please God, the ones we’re reading about. By faith Noah—Noah means “rest”—being divinely warned of things not yet seen... Does that ring a bell? So we’ve been warned about things that haven’t been seen. That’s called faith. We believe it’s going to happen. That’s faith. We’re living faith. We obey God, we believe God. It will happen. It’s going to happen.

Well, here is Noah, he’s warned it’s going to happen, and therefore, he had to do something. Like us. We believe things God has given to us through His Church that have not yet happened.

And what did Noah do? ...moved with godly fear, prepared... What have we been told? We should be moved with godly fear. So it’s not about fear of our own life because our life may be taken. We’re to prepare. What’s the prepare? Not physical. It won’t matter how many tins of baked beans. We’ve been told two or three months. But it won’t matter. God can protect us. God can do anything. But God says in His word that He will protect us, don’t worry about it. If our life was taken or whatever, there’s a purpose for it, there’s a reason why, because it’s all to the glory of God.

So we are preparing spiritually not physically. Because it won’t matter how much water and how much tin food you really have, in the end it’s about a spiritual preparation. We understand that that’s what the Church is going through now, a preparation period, preparing for the Kingdom of God. It’s been going on for a while. How much longer? We don’t know.

...an ark for the saving of his household, over many years. So over many years of this building an ark, by which he condemned the world, because of what he did, and became the heir of righteousness which is according to faith. So this is what this is about, righteousness and faith. They’re connected.

Now, there is a scripture here which we will look at because there’s been a tendency within our human nature component of us being in the Church, me included in this, where we think that we can save others. It’s natural, if you understand what I mean. It’s natural, which should be a big warning bell. It’s natural to think this way. It’s natural to think that we can save our family. It’s natural.

But let’s look what Ezekiel 14:19 says because life and death is not in our control and there is nothing we can do that can save anybody in our family – husband, wife, children, grandchildren, whatever. I’ve been through this in my own thinking, thinking that I could do this. It’s not going to make any difference because we don’t know God’s purpose for them. We know God’s purpose for us, but we don’t know; if their life is taken it’s the best thing that could happen. But by nature, naturally, we think, “That would be a terrible thing!” No, because we could be fighting against God’s will.

So let’s look at Ezekiel 14:19. We’ll always go back to Hebrews 11 at some point. Ezekiel 14:19 which is about judgment. Verse 19—Or if I send, this is God speaking, if I send pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, which is going to happen, and cut it off from man and beast... “And cut man and beast off.” In other words, a lot of people are going to die in this period.

Verse 20—even though Noah, righteous Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it... So there they are. Individually, there they are, and they’ve got family. Remember? Everyone...all those people have got a family. ...as I live, says the Eternal, they would deliver neither son nor daughter, family; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. Isn’t that incredible?

So really the concern should be about our personal behavior, our personal choice, our belief system. Their belief system doesn’t matter at this point because God will call them when God’s going to call them. God will save them if that’s God’s will and purpose. But I know that in my natural thinking there is this desire—which, it’s okay to have a desire—that people that you know close that live through it. Often, I’ve prepared for that. I remember Ebony was born and we bought all this baby food, and when I look at the motive, it was like, I was concerned a bit, but really, it was Wayne and Chris trying to save Ebony because when it all happened she would at least have baby food. Well, that’s gone in the bin. 10 years, 11 years later.

So it’s time to examine. What’s this all about? This is about what I think. God’s examining me. God called me and whether I’m living faith – really, it’s about me. You individually, it’s what you do. You can’t save anybody. We can have good desires towards others and pray to God that He does show mercy to those people. The most merciful thing would be a calling. The reality, it would be far better to have a calling.

So we just got to be careful that we don’t do human things. Because if someone does die within our family would we do a Cain? Have a bad attitude about it? We’ve got to be very careful because family may die, grandchildren may die. We don’t know. It’s not in our power and we shouldn’t try to bring it into our power. It’s a dangerous thing.

But it’s going back to this whole thing – our calling, we have God’s holy spirit, we are required to believe God, have faith because we’re given that capacity, now we have to choose to obey Him, to please God. That’s what it is. And it’s us! We know that those that are not with God’s holy spirit that we may be connected to on a physical level at this time cannot please God. They haven’t been called to it. So, really the responsibility is on us because God’s called us individually for a purpose.

Matthew 24:37. The key out of all of that particular scripture really (because you can go through different things in different scriptures) is only God can deliver a person. That’s the key. It’s not within our capacity. We can’t actually deliver ourselves either. It’s up to God. It’s God’s will and purpose. It’s God’s plan and we have to be careful that we’re not trying to cut across God’s plan. It’s similar to healing, without going into it.

I remember in times past when I used to pray for somebody to be healed. I look at it now and I had the wrong attitude, because, really, now I can pray, “God, intervene into this person’s life according to your will and purpose.” It’s pretty straight forward. Because, really, it’s got little to do with me other than God look and see what my heart is. It would be great if they were healed, but we don’t know what God’s got planned for that person in the future. We have no idea. It could be for the purpose of the Church someone is healed or not healed. We just don’t know why a lot of these things happen. But in the end we just live our life. Now we can pray, “Your will, God, Your purpose of what You’ve got planned for this person, not mine.” Because mine is selfish. My desire is always selfish; if it’s personal it’s selfish.

So we pray, “According to Your will and purpose.” The outcome can go either way. We don’t know. We ask God for His mercy. The most merciful thing can be that the person die because God’s got a plan and a purpose for that happening. We don’t know.

Matthew 24:37—But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. Now, what’s this really talking about? If you go back into the days of Noah we realize that Noah was preparing an ark and we know in total there was eight that were going to go into that ark. We know that God, when the animals went in, then Noah and his family went in, because God saved Noah and his family. It was God that did it. God sealed them in. Now, we understand that God did it. God gave the size, the dimensions, and all that type of thing. It was God did it.

So, “as in the days of Noah,” what was it? Well, the people lived their life, but one of the things is they didn’t think it was the end. It’s exactly the same today as in the days of Noah. There is no one out there who think it is the end. There are a few maniacs out there that say, you know, “The end is nigh!” with placards, but what it’s really pointing to is it’s going to be sudden. People are going to get caught unawares to this and they’re not going to prepare. So we look at this and say we should prepare spiritually. Because when it happens it’ll be sudden, when it happens, and we won’t necessarily will be ready. Who is going to protect us? God, if that’s His will and purpose. Because God protected Noah.

I will say we were very blessed when we were in the U.S. last time that we were able to go and view the rebuilding of Noah’s Ark and it was rather fascinating, rather fascinating, other than having to pay for the parking—very commercial—pay for the parking, get a ticket, and all that stuff. But when you’re standing back and look at the ark you could see clearly how God could get all these animals in this thing. It’s huge! Those who have seen it. It’s absolutely massive.

But that’s about as much that is reality. After that it was very commercial with the dinosaurs in it. Because God clearly says that it was tarred, you know, the wood. They tarred it so it wouldn’t leak inside and out, it says. But when you get there there’s no tar on the outside and there’s none on the inside. They used their own natural mind from a Protestant type thinking and it’s just, you know, it’s all theory. Then, of course, you’ve got the deli and the coffee shop.

So standing back it was great to see the size of this thing. It’s absolutely incredible to see the size of it and the door size, and all that. It was fantastic from that point of view. But once you got inside it became very Protestant and scriptures and bringing in Christ and all sorts of things. Viewing it was fantastic, just to see it, because this story sort of came alive and you realize the workmanship that went into this to build it the way God did.

Now, interesting—we’re not going to get there today—but when you read scripture it doesn’t say anywhere that God gave dimensions of the inside to Noah. It says you’ll build it this many cubits, that many cubits, three stories high, have a top on it, it’s going to be this size. But it doesn’t go and say, “Now, internally you’re going to measure out 15 cubits and put this and put...” None of that’s described. But it was built and all that was in there. It just says take storage. So Noah was obviously communicated to by God in some form, some way, either in the mind or whatever, that he knew what to do inside on those levels. I can guarantee you it didn’t have big ramps for tourists, as this one does, because you’ve got to get up all these levels, and the men’s and lady’s toilets on each level. So you realize there is so much that we don’t know about Noah’s ark and what God did with Noah and the animals and the building of the ark internally. We just don’t know. There is nowhere in the Bible actually says how long it took Noah to build it. It just doesn’t say. It doesn’t say how long or when.

As in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:38). As in the days of Noah before the flood, so it’s just before it, they, which is the people of the world, were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, which means people weren’t aware. They were just living life as they are today. ...until the day that Noah entered the ark. So it’s going to be sudden, “until the day.” There’s going to come a time when it’ll start. ...and they did not know until the flood came and took them away, all away. So everybody died. ...so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. So people are basically going to be unaware.

When this starts it’s going to be sudden and people will get caught off guard. It’s going to be too late; the door will be sealed for a lot of people. Others will be given opportunity to live through. But when God seals that door it’s like that protection. So God can deliver families, God can deliver whatever, whoever. It’s His choice. It’s got nothing to do with us, if you know what I mean.

Back to Genesis 6:3—And the LORD said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh. So here is God considering mankind (this is before the flood) of what man is like. ...yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. So now we’re down to 120. God is going to give mankind 120 years to see what man would choose using his own reasoning.

That’s what the issue is. Mankind can only use his reasoning of what he thinks is right and wrong with politics and all the other things. Chris and myself talk about all the different things that go on, and having God’s spirit and knowing human nature because of what we have, when anything comes up we know there’s a hook or a catch because we know that the natural carnal mind is selfish. So you’ve got to work out how you’re being conned. It applies to every single thing. How are they getting money out of you? There’s somewhere. Because if someone is a billionaire and has six or seven billion, where did that six or seven billion come from? Came from somewhere. It’s not just fairy money, it’s real. But where did they get it from? They had to get it from someone, true? Someone had to be taken advantage of, whether it’s the worker or the product they’re selling with a bigger margin than what is necessary. But it’s got to come from somewhere, and that’s where. So everything in life.

I remember someone in the Church said that someone one day sent them (I think it was) an email saying, “If you want a free phone, just click here.” Click. They go, “Oh, yeah, yeah, we’re going to send you a free phone. It’s free. Yeah, give us your credit card details, but it’s free.” You get the phone and you get the bill out of your credit card. You get a phone with a plan and everything and it’s beyond normal. So nothing is free...nothing is free. But that’s something you learn.

Verse 5, we drop down to verse 5. Then the Eternal saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth... Does that sound familiar? ...and that every intent, because this is about the spirit of a matter. Now, the natural carnal mind’s intent is selfish. Every single time, no matter what it is...no matter what it is. ...every intent of the thoughts of the heart were only evil continually. Totally selfish, money, and pleasing self. That’s everything...everything!

Well, having God’s spirit we can see that everything is that way. If you can’t see it, it means just that you’re not aware of it. It’s going on in everything you do. Every single thing you do.

And the Eternal was sorry... Now, that’s not really a word where human sorrow is involved, which is this is said in a favorable sense, to have mercy on them. So God’s saying “I’m going to have mercy on them.” Because what’s the main purpose of what God is doing? God is creating a family and if people go too far and become set in their thinking they can’t enter Elohim. So out of mercy for them it’s better to destroy everybody bar the eight. That’s the best thing for them all. “Destroy them before too many become so set in their heart that I can’t have a family from them.” So this is a great act of mercy.

Now, people would say, “Hard God,” and all that. It’s not true. This is a loving, merciful God that says people are just going too far. They’re just getting worse and worse and worse. Like, education is getting worse and worse and worse – like today’s education – and, “It’s best to destroy it all because then I can resurrect them during that hundred-year period and give them the opportunity of the gift of My holy spirit, My thinking in theirs.” Then they’re going to have to do what we’re doing – live by faith, believe God. “Ah, hmmm. I wasn’t like this before.” Believe God and choose to obey because obedience is something that is our choice. Obedience is something we have to choose every day.

So that word’s a bad translation. This is about more comfort or to comfort. ...that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved, which is He had compassion in His heart, in His thinking. It was best to stop mankind before they all became set in their thinking. God revealed His great mercy and love by destroying them.

Now, those sorts of words in the Protestant world would be just unbelievable. How do you comprehend that? We, with God’s spirit, can comprehend it. It’s the best thing that could happen. Now, this is the thinking that we should have. So no matter what happens to our families, either way, no matter what it is still the best thing that could happen for that individual. Because often we still think selfishly, but it’s the best thing that could happen to that person because it’s about salvation. It’s not about physical life now; it’s about salvation in a future and given a better time to do it.

So we got to be careful that we don’t become selfish and say, “Oh, my partner was taken....” “My children...” “My this...” “My children...” “My grandchildren.” No, they all belong to God and they’re not “my.” They belong to God. So it’s just a way of thinking and we should be prepared for what is coming. People that we don’t want to see die because we still show prejudice and favoritism, and yet they die, how will we respond? What sort of attitude will we have on that?

Verse 7—So the Eternal said, I will destroy man whom I have created on the face of the earth, both man and beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air, for I am sorry, which is regret of man’s sin because man is just going too far beyond it, which is, I believe, where we’re at.

We should see the evil of this world, not just in America. It’s more obvious there at the moment, but it’s everywhere. You should go to Tasmania and see what that’s like. We should see evil in everything. I mean everything, it’s evil.

I was talking to someone a bit. The traffic lights in Australia. Well, once orange meant go faster to get through. Now orange means slow down and stop because they have speed cameras. Not only stop sign cameras, but speed cameras because most people, what do you reckon human nature does? Orange? Go for it to get through! Because you want to please self, you want to get through. Well, guess what? There are two cameras now. One is a speed camera and one is a red light camera. But you don’t have to be going through the red light, you can still be on orange and still get the fine because you’re speeding, because you put your foot down. So they’re just looking at ways to get more money from you. No matter what it is, money, money. It’s money. Everything you touch is money.

Well, we, brethren, should see evil. The first place we should see it is in ourselves. We should see our own selfishness and selfishness is evil. So we should see that, what we’re capable of. I know what I’m capable of. I’m capable of great evil. Because sin is evil. I’m capable of that. But we’ve got to fight. That’s what we’ve been called to do, fight against self.

I will destroy man whom I’ve created. So God says, but He was going to save some.

Verse 8—But Noah found grace (favor), because God made this decision, in the eyes of the Eternal. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect, (which is not physically perfect and not genetically perfect), which is about having integrity. So he had this integrity that he believed God and then obeyed God. So that’s how he pleased God. ...in his generations. Noah walked with God.

Now, we know that Lamech lived 182 years old and he begot Noah, and Noah means “rest.” It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Noah means “rest” and God gave the earth rest from mankind. We’re going into a period of? Rest. Millennium; time of rest. Satan’s removal is the rest we’re going to enter. No more of Satan and his demons and what they’re doing. It’s incredible.

Lamech died when he was 777, which means Noah was 500. Some people don’t like figures. Noah was 595 years old when his father died. So he’s 595, which means that Lamech saw his children, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. He would have seen them because it’s years before the flood, few years before the flood. So you can see the blessing that he received by seeing grandchildren. He would have seen them and he would have known Noah. It’s an amazing thing to realize. You get to that period where he saw his grandchildren.

We will just cover in winding up here in 2 Peter 2:4-5. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned (we know that that actually took place), but cast them down to tartoroō, which is a place of restraint, which is here. We know that they’re here but they’ve been reduced in power. Satan has enormous power, or had it, enormous power. The fact that he could move planets to destroy the earth, that’s incredible power. Power we just don’t understand. But God has removed that from him and it’s been reduced. We understand that Satan’s power has been reduced.

Now, you imagine being a being like that (not that you would want to), but to have this so-called power that puffed you up and then to see it removed, and that these abilities are disappearing? Now he knows and he’s been told by God through His Church that his end is coming. It must be a thing and a frustration that’s there and a lashing out, which we are actually seeing in ways that we don’t fully comprehend. But a lashing out is taking place. What’s going on in the world, which is evil, which he has a pleasure in.

For if God did not spare the angels and cast them down, which is this place of restraint, and delivered them into the chains of darkness... One of the interesting things about that is that Satan and the angels never had God’s holy spirit. So we see spiritual things that he can’t because he doesn’t have God’s holy spirit. He’s never had God’s mind, whereas we have God’s mind. So we see spiritual things, but he can’t see them. He can only hear them from an apostle. He hears them and he knows what’s going on, but there’s other things that we see on a spiritual level that he doesn’t. He can’t comprehend them because he never had God’s holy spirit, so he doesn’t comprehend them.

...to be reserved for judgment, which is a final end. Verse 5—and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, the tenth in descent from Adam, eighth preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood, because of sin, on the world of the ungodly, and “ungodly” means they are destitute of the fear of God. So people didn’t fear God. Just like today, they don’t fear God.

I won’t go into the continuation of the story there of Noah because really what God saw was man had become corrupt. Just like they are today, everything is about corruption. Their intent is continually evil even though they would not admit it. But their thinking is selfishness. Selfishness is evil. Their intent is to look after self. It’s getting worse and worse and it’s more magnified and we can see it. It’s more magnified in a lot of things and sometimes it’s hard to watch TV programs because you sit there and you want to jump through the TV. You have to turn it off it’s just so frustrating. Logic is not the right word, but just balanced thinking is gone. Balanced thinking is gone. It’s just pure selfishness.

People will fight each other just for the fact of fighting each other. Whether it’s right or wrong is irrelevant, it’s just I’m going to fight against you. Anything you say I’m going to go in opposition. Even if it’s right, doesn’t matter, I’m going to go in opposition. It’s everywhere! It’s in every part of society. People just want to fight against things because they don’t agree with you.

1 Peter 3:20, just quickly. ...when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared...so there is this time period of the preparation that takes place, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. There is also a type which now saves us—which is baptism. Now, we understand that. We understand that there’s physical things that took place that point to something that is spiritual. Well, the flood points to something as well. It’s like us when we get baptized; we come up and want to walk anew. There is a new way of life, but we can’t do that without God’s holy spirit. In the end it’s all about having God’s holy spirit. For us faith is about God’s holy spirit. We have God’s holy spirit, we have the power to believe God, and we have to choose to obey.

We’ll start to wind up. We’ll just get a few scriptures here. Got a few just to touch on.

1 Peter 1:2. This is really about us because we have this power to please God. Elect, which we are, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father... It wasn’t about He knew all along. No, there’s a group of people that He knew that at the end He would call. Us. How blessed are we? ...in sanctification of the spirit... So we’ve been set aside by God’s holy spirit. That’s what makes us different. Why? ...for obedience.

So we have been called at this end-time, set aside. We go through baptism and we have the laying of hands, and we receive God’s holy spirit. Why do we receive God’s holy spirit? Well, we believe God and “for obedience,” to obey God. We believe God, we obey. But this choice of obedience is a choice. We don’t have to. That’s where our spirit comes into it. We have to make a choice. We can see clearly right and wrong; we choose God. We choose to please God because of what we’ve done.

I won’t finish the rest of that.

So obedience is being in agreement with God. So when we obey God we say, “We agree with You. We’ve heard Your word. We believe You and we agree that You’re right and that’s what I want to do. I want to be in agreement with You.” To be at one with God, that’s what it’s about. Obedience is the demonstration of wisdom. I won’t elaborate on that either, but we understand what wisdom is. Wisdom is the mind of God. So when we obey God we’re being wise, because that’s wisdom. We agree with God, we obey Him, that’s being wise.

Deuteronomy 4:1-2. This is talking to physical Israel and we’ll look at it from a spiritual point of view, spiritual Israel, which is the Church, which is us. Deuteronomy 4:1—Now, O, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I, which is Moses, teach you to observe. Now, we’ve been taught certain things by an apostle to observe, to do. So we should listen because when an apostle speaks it’s God speaking to us what we should do.

...that you may live. Well, this was physical. If we want to live spiritually, which is that crown of glory, we have to obey. We have to listen and obey. ...and go in and possess the land, which is spiritual, which the LORD your God of your fathers is giving you, which is Elohim. So God has promised it, but the only way is we have to listen what is put before us, and we have to choose to obey it. Then that gift, that crown can be given to us.

Verse 2—You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Now, that sounds simple. But the reality: the majority that have left God’s Church have disobeyed that there. ...nor take from it or add to it. Because that’s what happens. People, members of the Body that had God’s holy spirit made a choice that they knew more, so because they know more what do you reckon they’re going to do?  Add to what God’s apostle’s given or take from it. Where does that end up? Pride and you leave the Church. Because that’s the outcome.

So there’s a warning in that there saying, “you shall not add to the word, which I command you, nor take from it,” but you’re to keep what’s given. So we shouldn’t speculate about things. We’re in a time period here now where it would be easy to speculate about anything. You can speculate this and that and that and especially when it comes to family, and I might do that and we could do that, and we won’t move there because we’ll save that. That’s just all speculation because we just don’t know. We just live by faith, we believe God, and we’ll just keep moving forward no matter what happens.

Romans 6:16. This is all done in the context of pleasing God, which we have that capacity. Do you not know that to whom you present (yield) yourselves servants (slaves) to obey, you are that one’s servant (slave) whom you obey. Now, this is going back and it’s spiritual. So first people look at that physically, but it’s really talking about something spiritual, which is about obedience. ...whether of sin leading to death, because if we choose sin and we want to go down that path and subject our self to that we will die, or (the opposite) of obedience to God leading to righteousness? So there is an element that we have to choose to obey.

This is about what we allow to control us. There’s been sermons on this. But this, really, is talking about what controls us. Does our own mind, our own selfishness control us? People have issues with anger, and in reality, a mood, anger, is just a demonstration of selfishness. So if we ever get angry at anything or anybody we should know we are simply demonstrating our own personal selfishness. So when it wells up in us (because I get it, it can well up in us), there should be warning bells going off. Why am I getting frustrated (angry)? What is causing this? My selfishness. Things aren’t going the way I want them. I didn’t want it that way; I wanted a different way. It wells up and I know what I’m talking about. But we should catch that. The moment we start to feel anger towards anything or anybody, “It’s just a demonstration of my selfishness.” That’s all it is.

Well, as we know Cain demonstrated his view by his attitude he had, the mood, his face, his expression. Anger is exactly the same.

We can be slaves to our thinking, attitudes, and opinions. We’ve got prejudices hidden away (I know I do) that sometimes they rear up and they are prejudices. It’s just the way that I think that is wrong. It’s a prejudice that I shouldn’t have and I need to get rid of it. It takes time. We all have them. They’re hidden away and different things will be triggered where it will jump back out at us.

If you’d like to turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:1—Finally, then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Joshua that you, it’s talking to us individually, you and me, should abound more and more… How do you abound more and more? It’s spiritual growth. Because if we’re working hard we will grow spiritually. We will learn more about ourselves. We will grow and we’ll see clearly our own selfishness. ...just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God. How do we do that? Well, we know about that. Firstly, we believe and we walk in the truth. What we’re given we believe and we walk that way. That’s how we live our life.

So we ought to walk our life day by day (which is the way we think, what we do, our thoughts, words, and actions), and please God by the choices we make. We put Him first. We should know whether we’re pleasing God or not in our own mind. We should know. We examine ourselves and think, “Hmmm, that didn’t please God, that attitude that I had,” or whatever the action may be or whatever. We should know that.

Verse 2—for you know what commandments, or charge; it really is a charge, a giving of instruction we gave you through the Lord Joshua. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. Now, we have been sanctified, brethren. We’ve been set aside as holy for a purpose and we read that. What is that? Why were we called? Why have we been given God’s holy spirit? For obedience. We have the power to obey. We have the power to please God! No one else does. Because if they don’t have God’s holy spirit they cannot please God, as we read in Romans.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification (why we were called): that you should abstain from sexual immorality. Now, a lot of people just think that’s physical sexual immorality. Well, it can be that, but it’s more about what’s in the mind which is an ungodly relationship. It’s a selfish relationship. We should abstain from those on a physical sense, but also in the mind. We should restrain ourselves and control ourselves with the power of God’s holy spirit.

Verse 4—that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel... I love that! Because we should know how to possess our own vessel. Each and every one of us is our own vessel. There is something that’s really different. Other than that, we’ve got five fingers. Most of us have that. We’ve all got eyes, ears, nose, so we’re all a vessel. But the part that is different is the mind. There is no two the same. They’re different based on many things. They’re different.

So we should now own what’s in this vessel, this body, what’s here. This is the thing that God’s interested in, the motive and intent of why we do what we do.

...that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel. Well, we should know now because we’ve been around long enough now to know what’s right and wrong and what we should do. ...in sanctification and honor, which is not pleasing self, not giving in to our lusts, but pleasing God by obedience to His ways. That’s how it’s done. So we have this opportunity every day in this vessel to do something: either please God or please self.

Verse 5—not in passion or lust, like the gentiles who do not know God. So without God’s holy spirit people do not know God, not called to obedience, not called to please God. The Church that’s scattered cannot please God. I know it sounds like a shocking statement in some ways, but that’s just a reality. All the Jewish nation that have never been called cannot please God. All the Sabbath keeping in the world, and if you did it for seventy years physically... So? So? There’s a blessing that will come to it, but, so? Still didn’t please God. It’s only with God’s holy spirit because now the law is spiritual. It’s not physical; the law is now spiritual.

Verse 6—that no one should take advantage and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.

Verse 7—For God did not call us to uncleanness. God didn’t call us, give us His holy spirit, so that we would continue in sin, which is uncleanness, sin. We haven’t been called for that. ...but in holiness. We’ve been separated for obedience to God, to please God. That’s why we’ve been separated. That’s why we’re here today pleasing God. No one else. There are some at home, of course. But without God’s holy spirit can’t please God. It’s not possible.

Verse 8—Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, because this is the truth. What we’ve covered today is the truth. ...who has also given us His holy spirit.

So in the end (the outcome is) the only way that we can actually please God is by faith and then the personal choice to be obedient.

With that we’ll conclude.

1. Chapter 1